The number of practicing Muslims in France surpasses that of Catholics for the first time

By Rebeca Crespo*

The number of practicing Muslims between the ages of 18 and 59 in France surpassed in 2020 and, for the first time in history, the number of practicing Catholics.

Although Catholicism remains the first religion in the country, with 29% of the population, 10% are faithful to Islam, which is confirmed as the second religion in France, according to the report Immigrants and Descendants of Immigrants of the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).

The growing number of people practicing Islam is also reflected in the use of the veil by Muslim women living in France, which has increased by 55% in the last ten years.

For women between ages 18 and 49, the proportion of those wearing it has risen from 18% to 28% since 2013.

That being the case, the most striking figure in the INSEE study concerns the number of practitioners of each religion in the country.

While 58% of Muslims in France declare to practice prayer at least once a week, only 15% of Catholics recognize doing so regularly.

The same is true of visits to places of worship: 20% of Muslims claim to do so regularly compared with 8% of Catholics.

According to this report, Catholicism is the least practiced religion in France since even other religions, such as Judaism or Buddhism, claim to pray more regularly (31%) and go more often to places of worship (22%).

The number of practitioners is not the only area in which Catholicism has lost ground in France.

The family transmission of religion, i.e., the descendants of Catholics still claim to be believers like their parents, is higher in other faiths such as Islam or Judaism.

This transmission shapes the long-term religious landscape in the country.

Family reproduction is strong in Islam and Judaism: 91% of people raised in Muslim families and 84% in Jewish families continue to claim the religion of their parents.

Christian families pass on their religion less: 67% of people raised by Catholic parents and 69% by parents of other Christian denominations have maintained their beliefs.

Religion is strongly influenced by family upbringing.

60% of people with no religion claim to have received an upbringing from parents in which this question did not matter.

Thus, more than half of Catholics, other Christians, and Buddhists responded that it had little or no importance in their childhood.

Parental religious upbringing is significantly more consistent for Muslims and Jews, nearly three-quarters of whom say it was somewhat or very important.

*Journalist. Editor at La Gaceta de la Iberosfera (LGI). Contributor to Estado de Alarma TV, El Toro TV and Decisión Radio. Twitter: @rebecacrespo_

With information from LGI